Goldman Sachs (GS) earnings for the first quarter of the year beat analysts’ expectations due largely to a rebound in trading and investment banking revenue.
The Wall Street firm reported Q1 earnings per share (EPS) of $11.58 U.S. versus $8.56 U.S. that was expected among analysts.
Revenue in the January through March quarter totaled $14.21 billion U.S. compared to $12.92 billion U.S. that had been forecast.
The bank said that its profits increased 28% from a year earlier due to a rebound in capital markets activities.
Unlike its more diversified rivals on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs earns most of its revenue from investment banking activities such as initial public offerings (IPOs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Goldman Sachs’ financial performance and stock suffered over the last 18 months as Wall Street deals declined sharply amid a bear market driven by high inflation and interest rates.
However, there are signs of a rebound on Wall Street, particularly when it comes to IPOs.
Since last autumn, there have been several high-profile IPOs from companies such as Birkenstock (BIRK), Arm Holdings (ARM) and Reddit (RDDT).
Goldman Sachs said it is benefitting from the resurgence of IPO activity, and also from its growing wealth management business.
The stock of Goldman Sachs is up 3% in premarket trading today (April 15) on news of the strong Q1 financial results.
Prior to today, Goldman Sachs’ stock had risen 15% over the last 12 months to trade at $389.49 U.S. per share.
